In the early 1920s, and for more than the next three decades, there was a class of classic wooden yachts in Australia that sailed in every capital city of every state in keen competition. The 21 foot Restricted Class was for many years the premier racing yacht in the country, and sailed in hotly contested races each year. 

And yet, there are relatively few modern Australian yachtsmen who would know much about the class, and fewer who could recognise one of these boats. Indeed, it may be safe to say that most would not have even heard of the 21 foot Restricted Class. 

The evolution of the 21 footer, one of the earliest classes of classic wooden racing yachts in Australia.

In its heyday, the 21-footer commanded the attentions of the cream of Australian sailors, and drew skippers, owners, crews and the sporting public together through war and depression in contests that often made front-page reports in newspapers around the country.The evolution of the 21-footers, which started not long after the turn of the century, signalled the coming of age of yacht racing in Australia. Indeed it would not be too long a bow to pull to say that the growth of the Australian 21 ft Restricted Class mirrored the growing national pride of a recently federated nation. 

Developing up until the turn of the century, and persisting well afterwards, a certain style of boat came to be the norm on Port Phillip that seemed ideally suited to both the bay and nearby coastal areas. Straightforward to sail, inexpensive to build and able to stand up to the worst the weather could deal out, these boats had come to be pretty much the standard both for work and leisure. The well-known couta boats are among these: open cockpit but decked forward of the mast, along the sides and stern, inside ballast with a centreplate, sloop rig with a bowsprit and moderate to shallow draught. It was, and is, a style that seemed most suited to the conditions met with on these coasts, which could include choppy water and sudden wind squalls as well as lighter airs, all on the one day. 

Not long after 1900, a class of yacht appeared on Hobson’s Bay (at the northern end of Port Phillip) called the 24 foot Square Sterner, which appeared to be comprised of the best characteristics of the established style. These were first class yachts – shallow draughted boats that also had a fair turn of speed in light wind conditions and that were inexpensive to build.

But in 1909, local designer and builder Charlie Peel built two smaller versions of these yachts – Namoi, for himself and another member of the Port Melbourne Yacht Club, and Idler, built for the Mayor of Brighton. These two boats, each with a waterline length of 21 feet, proved themselves to be excellent racers as well as displaying the best seaworthy characteristics of the traditional style. 

The Victorian Yacht Racing Association had, by 1913, decided that a general utility small boat class needed to be established. The association’s aim, put simply, was to promote the sport of yachting to a wider range of people. Given the success of the Namoi and Idler in various races in the bay, the VYRA set about, in April of that year, officially adopting the lines and dimensions of these boats as the basis for a generally accepted, affordable and accessible, racing yacht.However, in setting down the design of the new class, the association opted for a set of restrictions for the craft rather than a ‘one design’. Having this difference allowed for certain variations within a set down list of parameters, and so builders could, and would in the years ahead, adjust some of the finer parts of the hull shape in a quest to get the best out of these boats. 

Ardale was the first boat built to the new VYRA restrictions, but only three were built before the ‘14 -’18 war put a stop to things for the next few years. Until the class established itself in its own right from the early 1920s, these boats raced with the Six Metres. But in the first few years after the war, and as the nation strove to resume life as normal, several people were keen to see the revival of yachting in Australia.